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Swithin

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Posts posted by Swithin

  1. 20 minutes ago, JamesJazGuitar said:

    Good to see The Great Garrick (1937),  mentioned.    This Warner Bros.  film with Brian Aherne and Olivia DeHavilland is what I call an unknown gem.    Often the film only gets mentioned because it was  one of the first films Lana Turner was  in.     Olivia's natural beauty really shines in this film.   I love the early scene where she is reflected in a pond.  I can see the Whales magic in the film.  

    The Great Garrick is indeed a great, unsung movie. I love Melville Cooper's utterly theatrical performance. He was one of the great character actors. 

     

    • Like 1
  2. 18 minutes ago, Eucalpytus P. Millstone said:

    I'm not sure if I saw Cannibal Holocaust (based upon the little known romantic story by Louisa May Alcott, right?). I saw some Italian cannibal movie during which an alligator/crocodile was brutally and actually slaughtered by "natives."

    I loathe, detest, despise, and h-a-t-e filmmakers who show or simulate animals being hurt or killed.

    I don't know if you are old enough to have seen The Exorcist during its original theatrical release, Swithin. But, there was a utterly idiotic and disgusting, nauseating trend of audiences puking in theatres during the movie. I saw the flick in Westwood, California and still remember the stench of vomit when I entered the theatre auditorium. The "communal experience" at its "finest."

    I not only saw The Exorcist, I was in college studying Theology and had a course in demonology around the time the film was released. We had to read the book and see the film. Our teacher -- a Jesuit -- tried to get Father Thomas Bermingham, the technical advisor to the movie, to speak to our class, but he was too busy. He also had a small role in the film. (Father Bermingham had taught at my university.)

    In the demonology class, we were more interested in the accuracy of the exorcism process, as well as in Pazuzu, than we were in vomit.

    175px-Thomas_V._Bermingham.jpg

    • Like 2
  3. Sometimes going to the movies is about the communal experience. Yes, I can get irritated by moviegoers who won't shut up, or who eat their popcorn too noisily. But the kind of experience I remember during the turtle scene of Cannibal Holocaust is unique. It couldn't be duplicated at home whilst streaming the film. You need that audience to be grossed out with.

     

     

    • Like 1
  4. Claude Rains played John Jasper in the 1935 film The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on Dickens' unfinished novel. While not specifically a horror film, the style and feel is definitely one of horror. It was directed by Stuart Walker, the same year he directed Werewolf of London. The film was part of the original batch of Universal horror films shown on Shock Theater, perhaps the grandaddy of horror film television series, hosted for much of its run by Zacherley.

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  5. On 9/12/2021 at 2:33 PM, JamesJazGuitar said:

    How does one change their username?     I might update mine getting rid of one of the "z" in jazz,   thus that "r" wouldn't wrap around.

     

    If you change your user name, you know what song I will be posting! But if it's such a subtle change, perhaps that won't be necessary. 

  6. 1 hour ago, lavenderblue19 said:

    Valentina Cortese and Richard Basehart. 

    Cortese's film she was nominated for was Day For Night. Ingrid Bergman won that year instead for Murder On The Orient Express. another film she was in was Thieves Highway. 

     Richard Basehart starred in the tv series Voyage to the Bottom Of The Sea.   He starred in the movie Tension, He Walked By Night, 14 Hours. Valentina Cortese and Richard Basehart met while making The House On Haunted Hill.

    To add more insult the Academy neglected to mention her name during The In Memoriam segment ??????????

    And right you are, Lavender!  You made one amusing error: You got your hills wrong. The film they met on was The House on Telegraph Hill.  

    In her acceptance speech, Bergman praised Cortese's role in Day for Night and criticized the strange occurrence that Day for Night won an Oscar (Best Foreign Film) the year before, but Cortese was nominated for her role in that film a year later. Cortese did win many awards for that role, including a BAFTA, the NY Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics, among others.

    And it's your turn!

  7. On 9/12/2021 at 8:58 AM, Swithin said:

    Hints:

    Husband's TV show was based on a movie. 

    Wife's Oscar nomination had an interesting twist on Oscar night. Wife did not win, but the winner that year criticized the Academy's rules and singled out Wife's excellent performance.

     

    Today's hint: Husband was born in the U.S., Wife was born in Europe. The Oscar night comment by the winner complained about the fact that Wife's film won an award the year before, but Wife was nominated for that film a year later. The winner said: "And now here I am, and I'm her rival, and I don't like that at all, please forgive me..."

  8. 36 minutes ago, Det Jim McLeod said:

    I read an interesting story about this film. The director was Michael Reeves, a 24 year old who had only done 2 films before this, The She Beast with Barbara Steele and The Sorcerers with Boris Karloff. He was considered a rising new talent and he wanted Donald Pleasence for the lead in Witchfinder General not Price. who he felt was too hammy. Reeves made no secret of his displeasure he had for Price and was often very rude to him, trying to goad him into giving the restrained performance he wanted. Price did not complain and did his best, he thought the film turned out well. Reeves, who suffered from depression, would be dead just one year later of a combination of pills and alcohol.

    Witchfinder General is so bleak, I  believe those who say that the director committed suicide after making it. I saw it first at the Museum of Modern Art. There is a beautifully sweet young hero, played by Ian Ogilvy. By the end, Ogilvy breaks free of his chains, grabs an axe, and begins hacking Price to pieces. Ogilvy's friend comes in, shoots the hacked Price, and says "May God have mercy on us all." Ogilvy, quite justifiably crazed by this point, shouts at his friend, "YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME! YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!" And you know what? The audience felt the same. We wanted more hacking of the evil Price. The film ends with Ogilvy's girlfriend, chained to a table, screaming, a primal scream. Best in the UK print, which has a great musical score, which fits the horror in the midst of beauty theme of the film.

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    witchfinder-general3.jpg

     

    • Like 2
  9. The first time I was taken to Radio City Music Hall, Merry Andrew (1958) was the film that followed the Easter Show. It was a thrilling experience for a little kid,   but I don't remember too much about the movie.

     

     

    • Like 1
  10. This is too hard a question for me, as I love so many films and performances of those gentlemen, although I haven't seen that many Lon Sr. films.

    But I will say that my favorite Vincent Price film, which includes his best performance, is definitely Witchfinder General (1968). Price has said his role of Matthew Hopkins in that film is one of his best performances. And despite his portrayal of a man who is one of the most evil characters ever put on film, it has been said that Price is more subdued than usual in the film.

    67d356dc0e9154f6416df5b53c10909e.jpg

  11. In the "First Film That Comes to Mind" thread, Laffite gave a clue ("Lots and lots of fairies") that reminded me of a favorite film. The film, Kingdom of the Fairies (1903), is one of the pioneering films of Georges Melies. I can watch this nearly 17-minute film again and again. It's charm and style beats just about anything made today.

     

     

    • Like 3
  12. 48 minutes ago, laffite said:

    I'm think of a famous movie made in 1935 and was recently shown on TCM. I know we don't usually do this on this thread but I want to give a clue. Shakespeare.

    I refuse to state the obvious, even that great film. So here's another film that fits your clue. I've included, for your delectation, the whole film as well (even though we don't usually do that on this thread.) It's a  1903 Melies  film. 🙂

    The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)

    Next: Maps

     

     

     

  13. 4 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

    I think you do it some disservice in not mentioning the beefy guy in the INTERNATIONAL MALE CATALOGUE EXECUTIONER'S COSTUME, he was really out there doing his most for Queen and Country. 

    Call me a pedant of the occult if you will, but i found the PHEASANT (?) FEATHERS in BARBARA STEELE'S headdress to be distracting anachronistic. they were long and curled, maybe it's come British game bird, but the pattern on them looks like a pheasant to me.

    You are quite right to chastise me for not mentioning that guy in his thong!  Here's a photo that doesn't quite do him justice.

    Btw, the woman holding what I thought was a chicken is billed as "Girl with Cockerel."

    MV5BZDllZGE0MDAtZGFlMi00ZDYzLWFhNjgtYTVm

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
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